Virat Kohli urges young Indians to #ComeOutandPlay in the latest campaign for Puma|One8 athleisure

Bengaluru : Indian cricket team captain and youth icon ViratKohli’s transformation into a supremely fit athlete has won praise from all quarters, making him the face of fitness in the country. To promote his message of incorporating sports and play into the daily lives of Indians, Kohli launched his own clothing brand One8 in collaboration with leading sports lifestyle brand, Puma.

The latest digital-led campaign #ComeOutandPlay is Puma|One8’s first promotional content after the brand’s grand launch event in November 2017. The event saw Kohli promoting the brand’s message while highlighting the simple joys of playing sports and taking a break from mobile phones and gadgets. During the event, the Indian ace-skipper also spoke at length about how sports and an active lifestyle can be seamlessly integrated into everyday life – whether at work or at home.

#ComeOutandPlay has been crafted on the basis of insights derived from a pan-India research study by Kantar IMRB, commissioned by Virat Kohli and Puma India, on physical activity and sports adoption in India. According to the research, 57% of respondents haven’t played any sport even once in the last one year with 58% of these respondents attributing this to a lack of time. However, the same set of people spent close to 4-5 hours on social media, televisions and mobile phones on an average working day.

Based on the insights from this study, seven hard-hitting, 15-second videos have been crafted; with Kohli urging the viewers to adopt an active lifestyle and asking them to #ComeOutandPlay. The messaging has been customized to target people on the platforms they most frequent. Given the increasing number of consumers on OTT and social media platforms, one of the contextual video features Virat urging viewers to take a break from their incessant consumption of online content and social media and to ‘Come Out and Play’. While, one video has Virat addressing the online gaming community, encouraging them to create a ‘high score’ on the field and not just online, another one has him urging social media users to make friends in the real world and not just in the virtual world.

Debosmita Majumder

With #ComeOutandPlay, the brand intends to connect with its consumers on their home turf i.e. the social media channels and OTT (Over the top) platforms like InMobi, Hotstar, Voot, and Sony Liv, that they spend most of their time on. These contextual videos are being strategically planted during prime shows and other such properties which garner strong traction from the audience.

Vishnu Srivastav

Quoting on the campaign, Debosmita Majumder, Head of Marketing, Puma India said,“Sports has been replaced by digital entertainment and games, especially amongst the millennial. We have also seen a decline in people playing sports as they grow older. PUMA and Virat have come together to encourage people to play sport, not only to stay fit or to pursue it professionally but just for the love of it. Through this campaign, we are looking at bringing back the joy of playing sport and making India a more active nation.” quoted Vishnu Srivastav, Creative Head, DDB Mudra South.